100th Comic for 2007

I just posted the 100th comic for 2007. Now, you know why I rarely draw multi-panel comics.

When I wake up in the morning, I will be Past-President of the Unitarian-Universalist Church of the Brazos Valley. Oh the anticipation of all the wisdom that will flow through me. Oops, took a wrong turn. Anybody got any wisdom I can borrow? I'll trade you for some humor.

I look forward to putting my talents to a different use for the church. I've had my sights on the web site for a while. Thankfully, I found Faith and Web. I need to add it to my bookmarks.

Beware Evildoer!

I've enjoyed my adventures in the UU blogosphere so far. I find the great "brown bag" debate amusing. Ms. Theologian has links to the original articles and responses here. (Thank you for putting it in one convenient place).

I'm more in the "this silliness diminishes serious anti-oppression work" camp. I wonder if all oppression were eliminated what would the anti-oppression people do? I support removing oppression and racism and discrimination but the thing missing from all these eradication plans are benchmarks. What does a world without these evils look like? I can imagine it but is my vision the same as anyone elses's? How will we know when we get there?

Aside from those musings, this image popped into my mind while watching the conversation:

I can see a costumed crime fighter shouting, "Halt, evildoer! or I shall smite you with my BROWN BAG O' JUSTICE!" Imagine the voice of Patrick Warburton (Brock Samson from Venture Brothers) or maybe Charlton Heston. Just for fun shout it to a co-worker with a sense of humor or to your partner while in the bedroom.

I have found that progressive types do not react very well to my attempts at levity. I'll see what happens.

A young working woman like you needs to keep her strength up!

Vera works as a clerk typist. As a member of the administrative profession, I can assure you that the job is not that strenuous. Not something one has to carb load for. It has its stressful moments but the nutritional requirements do not equal those of an athlete, construction worker or any other physically demanding profession. I can skip a meal and still perform my professional duties.

I find Mary's expression in the second panel creepy. The more I look at it the more she sort of reminds me of a lady who attends my church. Just the looks not the biddiness.

Nearly three weeks now and no one knows what Vera did to anger her brother Von. Come on, Karen Moy, you've bored me to near death, now wrap this thing up! I did not read your damn comic for 4 days and missed nothing. A pen and ink drawing of paint drying would be more interesting at this point.

It's the little things

I was watching a rerun of The Daily Show. The lead story was about the hearings about the firing of the U.S. attorneys featuring Monica Goodling. Sheila Jackson Lee, representing the great state of Texas' 18th Congressional district which includes the wonderful city of Houston*, instructed Ms. Goodling to be "cryptic and brief" with her answers. After reading Ms. Lee's biography, I can assume that she has intelligence, so is it too much to ask for a U.S. Representative to know the meaning of the words that she chooses? It's embarrassing when a person in a position of power misuses words.

This member of the governed has certain expectations that her representatives at least display the same level of education and intelligence as she. It makes my head hurt when those expectations are not met. All I have is a B.A. and I know what cryptic means and the correct context for using that word.

Ms. Goodling displayed the same level of brilliance in not understanding the concept of "immunity" and not understanding some basic concepts concerning law. She should have known some of this after graduating from a "law school".

Maybe, I'm being too hard on these women but I don't think I'm holding them to an unreasonable standard. My standards are not that high. I guess that's why I've become increasingly cynical about this government. I find frightening when in answer to the question about those chosen to govern me, "You think you could do a better job?", I can say yes with some degree of confidence.

*I'm not being sarcastic - Texas is a great state and like visiting Houston (I like it enough to suffer through driving around in it).

Secretarial Violence and Hot Pockets

Ed Crankshaft has seen a few offices. He knows how deadly secretarial violence can become. Wielded by the right hands, a Swingline stapler can be quite deadly. I can build an IED with my office equipment. Don't tick me off or I won't build that chart from Excel data for your ass. I can understand the secretarial violence in Iraq, if Office 2007 has been implemented across the country. I almost engaged in secretarial violence, this morning, attempting to do something in Excel 2007 that was so simple in Excel 2003. Ended up doing it in Excel 2003 because I did not have the time to explore and learn the nuances of 2007. Yes, software implementation without training can lead to secretarial violence. Only Batuik would use violence and destruction as a set up for a lame pun.

The always amusing Ink Pen can be found here. Read it and other comics at GoComics.com and wonder why with so much brilliance to choose from that newspaper editors still run Cathy on the comics page. This Ink Pen cracked me up because I just finished the chapter in the God Delusion about the burnt offerings that Yahweh always demanded. I have read the Old Testament and often wondered why Jehovah was into barbecue. Since the God of Israel no longer requires barbecue I wonder what he accepts now. Hot Pockets!

I have more entries in my head about my fishing trip and Cindy Sheehan's resignation from the peace movement. Those will come later.

I'm bringing Abbey and Loki home from the boarding kennel this afternoon. I will be glad to see them. My workout for the afternoon will consist of cleaning the house and the backyard. Trying to get everything back in order after a vacation.

Running log

This week I ran/ cycled 13.01 miles and burned 1007.9 calories. Everyone tells me that I look thinner but the weight on the scale is not shifting in the downward direction. Maybe I should stop worrying about it.

Monday: ran 5K in 35:06
Tuesday: cycled 6.28 miles in 35:00
Thursday: ran 5K in 32:38

I'm going fishing this weekend. The annual family fishing trip to Toledo Bend Lake.

UU Blogs and Gratuitous Grainy Dog Photos

I've subscribed to UUpdates, a blog aggregator for UU blogs. I've suggested my blog even though I do not often talk about Unitarian-Universalism. philosophy, theology or religion. I rarely write about serious topics. I suggested it on the basis that I'm a UU lay leader and that I do write about church life and quite interested in reading other UU blogs and interacting with bloggers. I hope that this humble little blog gets added.

I came across this entry Why I Hate Al Gore? from Ms. Theologian. I can relate. I cannot say that sort of thing in church but in the wider community it's perfectly acceptable, even applauded. For me, he gives off an air of sanctimoniousness (what a word!). He's all about being green but then acts like every other American, except for buying carbon offsets.

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I promised dog photos and I deliver. I took these with my cell phone while playing on the floor with the dogs.

Abbey the Beagle in profile

One of three positions that Abbey often assumes (the other two are variations on laying down and standing).

Okay, four positions - this is the scratch my butt position. Abbey can be adopted via Woodstock Animal Foundation of Texas.

Loki demanding that I get away from the computer and pay attention to him. Loki is a Bullmastiff/ Pit Bull mix. He was adopted through Woodstock.

What soulless creature can say no to those eyes?

Okay, okay, Loki you have to get your head off my lap in order for me to get up and play with you.

What you get when you try to photograph and play with an 80 pound dog at the same time.

Some recent photos

Walter took these with his camera phone

At Casa Ole. I don't remember what was so interesting over there.

Walter and I in front of a fountain in a courtyard in front of Ben and Jerry's. I like ice cream, that's why I run.

Some members of the Board of the UU Church of the Brazos Valley. This was taken at the congregational meeting.

I normally wear contacts but on weekends I like to give it a rest.

Comics and Al Gore

Right now a sickeningly sweet smell invades my office. My co-worker is calling physical plant. I hope it's not anything poisonous. The smell is only at my end of the hallway.

I read today's Joy of Tech which lead me to this picture:

Al Gore in his office, May 2007 from Time Magazine. What does Al Gore really do with three 30 inch monitors? Sweet consolation prize for not becoming president. I guess he wants to fully explore his invention.

Icon: Vera's brother, Von

What did Vera do that pissed off Von so much that he threw her out? The perspective in the second panel is giving me a headache. The smell in my office is not helping matters much. I opened a window.

I believe you speak for all of us, Jeremy.

A couple of photos

A pair of pictures taken with my cell phone:

The flowers I received at the congregational meeting.

Something I drank for breakfast. I have not noticed any super powers so far. The drink was quite tasty although the color was a bit off-putting.

I think Motorola could have designed the phone better. Having to remove the battery in order to take out the chip that holds the photos, movies and music seems like bad design. I have a chip that has an adapter that allows me to plug the chip into my computer. The chip gives me more storage space for all my non-calling needs.

I've busted through the sleepiness wall and can take on the rest of the day.

The wall

Clouds! Gray! Depression!

Abbey had her stitches removed last night. She behaved quite well during the procedure. Not a single peep. She also slept through storm that came in early this morning. The same storm knocked out the power and screwed up my alarm clock. I did not get out of bed until 7:00 am.

I'm attempting to make it through the 10:00 am wall. Everyday, I have trouble staying awake from 10:00 am to 11:00 am. Sometimes the sleepiness starts at 9:30 am. If I can make it to 11:00 am then I'm okay. The years of screwing with my natural rhythms are taking a toll. Morning people would be more tolerable if they did not act as if it was some kind of special virtue.

I'm looking forward to the fishing trip. Walter is looking forward to it more. He doesn't care whether or not we actually fish, he just wants to get away.

Still looking for someone to temp foster Abbey. Loki will be boarded.

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.

Running Log, Congregational Meeting and Other Things

This week I ran/ rowed 13.35 miles, burned 1638.6 calories and weigh 175.2 pounds.

Monday: ran 2.97 miles in 35:00
Tuesday: rowed 2.26 miles in 20 minutes
Wednesday: ran 3.10 miles on a nature trail and some sprints for about 35 minutes
Thursday: rowed 1.76 miles in 15 minutes
Friday: ran 3.26 miles in the park for about 35 minutes

Rather enjoyed the change in routine, especially using the rowing machine. Have become somewhat adept at changing clothes using the car doors as a stall. I wear t-shirts under my other shirts so the only problem is changing from pants to shorts. Someone could have seen me without my pants if they walked or drove up at the right time and angle. I tried to make the change quickly. My car is too small and I'm not limber enough to change completely enclosed in the car. If I planned a bit better I could have changed in my office before leaving work but the decision to run outside instead of in the gym was a spontaneous one based upon the weather.

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The congregational meeting lasted less than 2 hours and went pretty smoothly. I was too nervous to sit so I stood or walked around with the microphone throughout this meeting. I received a nice bouquet of roses in recognition for my year as Board President. I think I might have smiled a bit too much after the meeting adjourned. I will still serve on the Board as Past-President. I will not have voting privileges, just wisdom. Very capable people will serve on the next Board. I don't officially leave office until May 31.

Rev. Teri preached a great sermon and led an interesting worship service that provided a great lead-in to the congregational meeting. The entire congregation got up and had to sit elsewhere and next to someone else. It did add another perspective. Seeing things with new eyes. I'm sure the new Board members will do the same thing. See things with new eyes.

I enjoyed serving as Board President and look forward to seeing things through the eyes of Past President.

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Walter and I celebrate 13 years of marriage. The lace anniversary. We ate out last night and ate some ice cream at Ben and Jerry's today after the meeting. Right now, everyone except me, is taking a nice Sunday afternoon nap. I think I will join them.

Personality

Your Personality is Very Rare (INFP)

Your personality type is dreamy, romantic, elegant, and expressive. Only about 5% of all people have your personality, including 6% of all women and 4% of all men You are Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

Screwy E-Mail

My home e-mail account is screwed up. I get to talk to tech support tonight. Woo Hoo. Walter set it the phone meeting. Also found out that we were assigned to the slow cable service, so the nice tech upgraded us to the preferred service which is less expensive and faster. Zoom.

Thankfully, I have a Gmail account so I'm not completely out of touch. Only the spammers cannot get to me. I like how Gmail organizes discussions. I will recommend it to next year's board members.

I used the rowing machine yesterday and stretched. I failed to take the printed out exercises with me to the gym.

Last night's meeting went well. I'm preparing for the upcoming congregational meeting. I think it will go better for me if I have a written game plan and general script. Motion, discussion, vote. Most of the board meetings the order is discussion, motion, maybe more discussion, vote. The Aggie rules of order.

I need to write a report for the meeting and work out logistics.

TCWC Nature Trail

Yesterday the weather was too lovely to exercise inside the gym, so I ran on the TCWC Nature Trail two times and did a few sprints in the parking lot. I felt uncomfortable running full speed because of the loose gravel in the parking lot but I think I moved fairly quickly. I haven't attempted a sprint off a treadmill since 1994. Old knee injury. I estimate I ran about 5K yesterday. I enjoyed the change in scenery and terrain. More play than exercise.

I've been deviating from my planned exercises quite a bit lately. I'm burned out on traditional weight lifting. Just seems rather boring lately. Tuesday I exercised on the rowing machine instead of lifting weights. I might do some body weight exercises or toss around a medicine ball this evening. I printed out an exercise routine called the "Five Tibetans". I might try that tonight. I have a meeting tonight so I don't have a lot of time to spend lifting weights.

If you live in Bryan or College Station and want to run on the trail, the directions can be found here: http://wfscnet.tamu.edu/tcwc/Directions.htm The entrance to the trail is marked by a couple of signs and there is a narrow gate to enter. No bikes or motor vehicles allowed. The trail is very narrow in a lot of places and quite swampy in one spot. There is tall grass that reaches into the trail so I would recommend pants or washing off as soon as possible. The trail is mostly flat. Right now the wildflowers are in bloom. Watch out for spider webs. Plenty of benches and trash cans on the trail and an emergency phone kiosk. I found it a good short fun route. I ran it twice in less than 30 minutes (I ran between 11:00 - 10:00 minute miles). If you want to take it at a slower pace and learn a thing or two there are markers on the trail with educational material on them.

Dynamic Gesticulation!

I'm jealous of Giella's ability to draw hands. Giella's perspective is often skewed, his continuity sometimes non-existent and his scene composition occasionally insane but he can draw hands. Maybe one's strongest skill is the last to go in the long downward spiral of Alzheimer's disease. Eventually, the art in Mary Worth will be reduced to stick figures with well-drawn hands.

Watch out, Mary! Vera is about to stuff a fist full of STFU down your gullet.

The Infinite Project

Eww! Did not see that coming. Neither did the old man.

I have a project at work that I do not want to do. The guidelines change and no one is cooperating. Employee turn over does not help either. The project is important to the boss. I've shown him more interesting things that I've worked on but I get a "that's nice, but how about this project?" It seemed like a neat project when I volunteered but the factors mentioned above have ruined it and the idea that seemed sound initially has morphed, upon reflection, into something not so good. The meeting effect - dumb ideas sound brilliant in a group setting. Unfortunately, I cannot seem to convince anyone that approach originally suggested will not work very well. I work on the project in short bursts. Things change that alter the project. This thing could go on forever. A lot of ink, time, paper and energy will be wasted. Time for a career evaluation.

I bought "Resumes that Knock Them Dead" and "Cover Letters that Knock Them Dead" at a garage sale. I got them for free because the lady did not want to break a 5 dollar bill just for 25 cents. This inspired a gag. I can't get a job because my resume and cover letter keeps killing potential employers. The resume serial killer strikes again! Just HR people - no big loss.

I really need to update the resume and learn to write a cover letter. Some aspects of this job nibble at my soul.

Cramps and Comics

Visited the mothers this past weekend, mine on Saturday and Walter's on Sunday.

Codeine enhanced Sunday's visit. I attempted to kill some pain - some of the worst menstrual cramps ever. I took large doses to kill the pain. The pain went away after I took 1,000 mg of Ibuprofen. My liver will suffer but at least the pain stopped.

The Bible says women have those pains because of Eve's sin. Something is seriously fucked up about that logic.

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What the hell is happening in panel 2? My artistic skills are lacking but damn it Giella, you are a professional! Is this what cartoonist Alzheimer's looks like? Perspective goes out the window. I'm glad that both characters are female. The character arrangement in panel 2 is making my head hurt. Curses upon you, Giella!

Huh!? Explain this joke and I'll send you some original A Perfect World artwork. Seriously, I'm running out of room to store the pages and I really want to understand this joke.

This joke would have been really hilarious in 1991 (Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country) or maybe in 1994 (Star Trek: Generations or Star Trek: Oh, Look Dramatic Cinematic Lighting!). What prompted this gag? The remastered original series (totally cool), James Doohan's missing ashes, the third anniversary of Enterprise's cancellation, rumors of a Star Trek movie prequel? Why this gag now?

Running Log

This week I ran 10.11 miles, burned 1151.6 calories and weigh 175.9 pounds.

All times 35:00
Monday - 3.12 miles
Wednesday - 3.04 miles
Friday - 3.11 miles

Ran intervals this week. Managed to make it to 7.5 mph on the treadmill.

Received my Runner's World magazine. The June issue has a training program I find interesting and worth trying.

I good at English

Your English Skills:

Punctuation: 100% Spelling: 100% Grammar: 80% Vocabulary: 80%

Does Your English Cut the Mustard?

Cartoon Update

I will post a new cartoon tonight. I did not feel like posting an update after the board meeting.

To make it up to you, I post the first image that came up from a Google image search using the terms "Cute Animal"

Picture appeared here: www.coachella.com/forum/showthread.php?p=188854

Host site www.coachella.com Some kind of music festival.

Last Board Meeting

I conducted my last church board meeting last night. Next month's meeting I sit around and look cute and offer occasional bits of wisdom as immediate past president.

The meeting went relatively smoothly. Next year's board president has stronger organizational skills.

I would do it again if asked. I would do some things differently. Familiarize myself with the by-laws. Make fewer unilateral decisions. Devote more time to preparing for meetings. Pay attention to more details.

Fortunately, I served with people who have strengths to counteract my weaknesses. I've grown from this experience and I think I helped make a real difference in the future of the church.

I look forward to the next phase of my ministry.

Loki and the Boston Terriers

I discovered that Abbey likes to go on walks and use the bathroom during those walks. So I put her leash on her and tried to walk her in the back yard. Loki had to participate by grabbing on to her leash. He walked her around the back yard a bit but Abbey did not enjoy it. I took over and decided to try the front yard. Naturally, Loki had to go with us so I put his leash on him and went out the front door.

After untangling Abbey's leash from around Loki's legs we walked around the front yard. Abbey did her business and received a lot of praise. The Boston Terriers from across the street ran over to check out Abbey. They sniffed each other and then the Terriers went back across the street. Loki wanted to greet the Terriers but he wrapped his leash around a tree.

I unwrapped Loki's leash. He spotted the Boston Terriers across the street. He laid down and they approached. The male Boston ran up to Loki and Loki wrestled with him. This was a huge mismatch - 80 pounds of Loki vs. maybe 15 pounds of Boston Terrier. Loki used his mouth to pin the Boston Terrier and toss him a bit.

I yelled at Loki to let go of the Boston Terrier and I pulled on Loki's collar but that did not work. I yelled at the neighbor across the street to get his dog. The Boston Terrier yelped and Loki did not let go. The neighbor kept mowing his lawn, oblivious to my yelling and his dog's yelping. Walter came out and freed the Boston Terrier. The Boston Terrier ran back across the street. I don't think he was harmed, he just yelped a lot and probably had the scare of his life. Thankfully, the Bostons were smart enough to stay away.

I gave Loki to Walter and continued to walk Abbey, who sensibly stayed as far away from the fray as possible. Abbey completed her business and everyone went back inside before the mosquitoes ate us alive.

Loki remained a bit hyper after all this. I guess some sort of adrenaline rush. I certainly got one.

In the future, I will have to make sure that Loki cannot interact with dogs less than 20 pounds. I'm afraid that despite the fact that I obey the leash laws Loki will be the one who gets in trouble if a small dog gets hurt. Hopefully, training can help with the small dog issue.

Abbey escaped from her kennel last night but I fixed it and put her back in. She was much quieter and was still asleep when I opened the door.

Ziggy

Tom Wilson did not have space to draw the crest feathers but the bird depicted in this Ziggy cartoon is a cockatiel.

The bird has the cockatiel attitude. The scale in comparison to Ziggy is correct, in the mind of a cockatiel.

This is not Ziggy's regular pet bird.

Abbey and MSNBC

Abbey is not house broken. Oh joy. It has been a long time since I've trained a dog not to go in the house. I don't know how a dog manages to live five years without knowing where to go. I can guess one of the reasons she was surrendered by her owner.

I don't know when Abbey sleeps because she would not stop whining last night. There were brief interludes of silence but I'd think she would figure out that whining is not going to get her the attention she wants. The neighbors will think we are torturing a dog.

Then the damn dog looks at me with her brown eyes and sad face. I pet her and she is happy. She just wants to be close to people and petted but I wish she would learn not to make a mess on my carpets and sleep quietly in her kennel.

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I watched a bit of Joe Scarborough on MSNBC this morning. He trivialized the death toll in Iraq. He jokingly complained that it was a poor segue into the important story about Paris Hilton. Made a cartoonish "wa-wa-wa" sound after his comment about the Iraq death toll. I no longer have the energy to be outraged by these idiots.

Abbey the Beagle

Abbey the Beagle arrived at my house yesterday. Yes, she is a bit chubby but we are working on her figure. Abbey is 5 years old and loves to lay around near people. She snores but not too loudly. Abbey barks, howls, whines and just lets people know what's on her mind but we are training her to speak when appropriate.

She did not eat much this morning but I think that's because she's still trying to orient herself to the new housing, people and animals.

I learned this morning that she is a must go outside first thing in the morning type of dog. Walter learned the lesson first, then I was informed.

Juggling eating styles will be interesting. Loki believes that food put out must be eaten immediately whereas Abbey so far appears to be a grazer. The trick will be to convince Abbey to eat a few bites while Loki is busy eating his own food. I have to remind Loki that he has his own food when he begs for me to put down the bowl for Abbey. Abbey and Loki haven't interacted much yet as far as play but we'll see what happens.

I will need to get back to the taking the dog to adoptions routine. I hope the Petco dog bar treats don't give her stinky gas like all my previous fosters.

If you're interested in adopting Abbey or any of her friends check her out on Saturday from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm at Petco in College Station, Texas. You can also check her out on the web at http://www.woodstocktexas.org

It's back

My site is back, hooray!

Crap

Crap. My web site host is down again. This is annoying. The second time in less than a week. One day's worth of updates were lost the first time; I restored them yesterday. Now, the site is down again. IPower has been quite reliable for the past 3 years so I don't understand the problems this year.

I took Salvador to church for the blessing of the animals. He did well. Chirped a bit, stayed quiet during meditation and refused to make any noise during the one song about birds singing. The other people attending the service enjoyed listening to him chirp. The whole adventure tired him out. I let him out of his travel cage and he flew straight to his regular cage for a nap.

I will foster a new dog this summer. She is a Beagle named Abbey. A very fat Beagle. She was an owner surrender. I'm sure she will be lots of fun and a nice companion for Loki.

Running Log

This week I ran 9.41 miles, burned 1195.5 calories and weigh 173.6 pounds.

Monday: 3.26 miles in 35:00
Wednesday: 2.40 miles in 25:00
Friday: 3.75 miles in 45:00

I skipped Saturday because I was tired. I did not run as fast on Friday because I had not fully recovered. Since I'm not training for a race I plan on backing off on the amount of time spent running. Focus on shorter but more intense running sessions and weight training for awhile.

If I run the Miracle Match Marathon in Waco in October I will need to resume training in June or July. I would like to attempt to train for a marathon solo just to see if I can do it. If not the Waco Marathon then maybe take another crack at a 50K if there will be one at Lake Bryan this year.

I recently acquired a book on running for women by the editors of Runner's World magazine at a garage sale. I got a lot of things for free this past Saturday because people did not want to make change for a 5 dollar bill just for a 25 cent item. For a fair number of people the effort to dig around for $4.75 (four $1 bills and 3 quarters) was not worth 25 cents. I will check out the training information in this book.

Random Thoughts

I did not update last night because I worked on church business instead. Some of the Board members are night owls. It all business leading to a couple of meetings. I do other things at church besides meetings and preparing for meetings. I will update tonight.

Is Mrs. Brownback a puppet? I need to look at the video of the interview again to see where Sen. Brownback's right arm was located. She looked very uncomfortable next to her husband during the post-debate interview.

Is it me or does anyone else see a resemblance:

Mitt Romney on the left, Lyle Waggoner circa late 1970's on the right.

I hope Fred Thompson joins the race. This would force Tommy Thompson to use "I'm not the Law and Order guy" as a campaign slogan. Would Fred Thompson be allowed to use the Law and Order "donk-donk" sound effect in his commercials?

(Sound effect from http://blog.rickbreslin.com/blog/law_and_order_doink_doink_sound.asp)

I had a confrontation with one of the dumbbell hogs at the gym. It was polite. I simply asked if I could do a quick 12 reps with the 10 pound dumbbells while she did her walking lunges with the 20 pound barbell? I did my 12 reps, put the 10 pound dumbbells back near her stuff and picked up another set of weights before she finished her walking lunges. I hope she learned a lesson that sharing does not have to interrupt your workout. As for the trainer hogging the weights - I think a letter to the manager is in order.

When did candor in a debate become equated with comic relief? No wonder politicians don't speak honestly; stupid people (journalists) analyse their statements and draw wrong conclusions.

Debates

I watched the Democrats debate on the web. Tonight, I plan to catch the Republicans live. I anticipate hearing from Ron Paul. Maybe he will stand out like Mike Gravel did among the Democrats.

I'm somewhat familiar with Ron Paul's voting record and writings. Paul is the most "libertarian" of the Republicans. Paul voted against the war in Iraq. More information about Ron Paul can be found on the Internet

Maybe Americans could have a real choice: Gravel vs. Paul.

A woman can dream.

Dead Battery and numbers

The battery on my pedometer died. Now I must walk without knowing how many steps I took. Can I live without that information? I can live without it until I can make it to the store and purchase a new battery. A small portion of my life is devoted to keeping track of numbers; weight, miles ran, miles walked, steps taken, calories burned, cartoons drawn, pieces of clip art produced. I rarely pay attention to the important numbers; bank balance, debt, costs, calories consumed, paycheck amount, gas mileage. Trivial matters rule my life.

Pain

My abs, quads, hamstrings and glutes hurt. Movement hurts. The pain awakened me at 2:30 this morning.

I did some weight lifting, focusing on my lower body, on Tuesday. I ran on Wednesday despite the soreness from Tuesday's workout.

My abs hurt the most. Once I get moving the pain in my legs becomes less noticeable.

Today, I'll focus on my upper body. Maybe the soreness after that workout will drown out the soreness in my legs and abs.

I won't work on my abs and legs until next Tuesday. That should give the muscles plenty of time to recover.

Whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger.

Comic women

Looks like Harriet has had some work done. Maybe she used her third eye as stuffing for her top.

Too funny. As a kid, I remember watching a Popeye cartoon that featured the scenario of a woman U.S. President. Olive Oyl wore a pants suit and high heeled shoes and she looked good. Rather attractive according to my memory. She also exuded confidence in the way she moved about in the Oval Office. Popeye sort of stood off to the side. He wore a suit instead of the usual sailor clothes. I checked the Big Cartoon Database but came up empty. Could be the product of a fevered childhood imagination. I have trouble distinguishing childhood dreams, memories and T.V. shows. I used to think the "The Bugaloos" were one of my weird childhood dreams until I found outside confirmation. The work of Sid and Marty Krofft had that effect on a lot of people.

The Popeye sequence I think I watched was musical with Olive Oyl doing most of the singing. I'm sure it was a Fleischer produced rather than Hanna-Barbara. Does anyone else remember this?

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I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by church business but it's just all the things that need to be done before the congregational meeting. The feeling will pass.

How many of me?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 76 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Animal, vegetable or mineral?

What is the animal on the right? A beaver or a walrus with really short tusks? Maybe a mutant beaver with tusks and buck teeth.